Why would nurses voluntarily sign up at for profit schools?

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Specializes in Critical Care, Float Pool Nursing.

Some backdrop: I went to a traditional 4 year school for my first degree then went to a community college for my associate degree in nursing. While I worked as a nurse, I received my BSN online from Penn State University, which is a flagship state school in PA which a very good academic reputation. It is currently the highest ranked school in the country that offers a totally online RN to BSN option.

My question is, in contrast to attending a highly reputable, cheaper state school, why do many associate degree nurses opt to complete their BSN online at for profit universities like Kaplan, Phoenix, Chamberlain, and Grand Canyon? The for-profits are way more expensive and encourage you to take out loans. Those schools cost more, are less reputable, and aren't any more convenient than the online public state school options. They are also notorious for piranha-like, harassing recruiting tactics and baracuda-style collection practices. So for what purpose..? To what end..?

I recognize that a large portion of the nursing world does not care where you got your nursing degree. But, a significant portion does. One of the most frequent questions I get asked by my colleagues in a new unit is "where did you go to school?" I would be horrified and embarrassed if I had to reply with "University of Phoenix," "Kaplan," or "The Grand Canyon." So what piece of information am I missing here? Why are those schools so attractive?

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

Well, as a Grand Canyon graduate, I chose this program over my state universities because it was about 10k cheaper and "local" universities are 40 miles away. I also chose GCU, because the school is brick and mortar with dorms, etc.. just like any other university and that was important to me. If I so chose, I could easily fly to AZ, and walk on the campus, visit the bookstore, etc, because it is a real university.

Recently the GCU basketball team played a local Christian university. I wanted to go support GCU, but had to work.

Harassment: Nope, not one second did GCU harass me. Once I made initial contact, they emailed back a few days later, but never did they "harass" me.

And get this: Since I graduated back in the 80's, where GPA wasn't all that important and a "C" sufficed, GCU accepted my borderline GPA, but I was sent a letter from the academics dept stating I was on academic probation for a third of the program and if my GPA dropped, I was going to be kicked to the curb.

Quality: Hmm, well two other nurses who go to local universities, didn't have half the rigor I had in my program. I was responsible to turn my papers into turnitin, whereas they had no clue what that was. My capstone required 15 research articles and multiple appendices, and research articles through the entire program could be no older than 5 yrs. My capstone was 35 pages; included 2 surveys, a power point (15 slide), executive summary and bulletin. My other coworkers only had to have five references that could be 10 yrs old and only required 1 appendix.

Instructors/Profs: One helped develop the statlock and Bard picc, and another was heavy into cancer research. Others were very hands on, tough but fair, and had an impressive resume of teaching at brick and mortar universities.

Sooo, do you have anymore questions, oh judgmental one? :yawn::cheeky:

Oh, yes, forgot to add, my organization also endorses them, and I have already been offered a couple of jobs, that I declined because I like where I am and btw, it's not "THE" Grand Canyon, it's Grand Canyon University (est. 1949). You might want to do your homework before you go bashing. ;)

Lastly, there are a zillion other threads bashing LPN, RN, ADN, BSN and online versus b/m. We really don't need another one, *yawn*.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Float Pool Nursing.

Your reply was actually very informative and I thank you for it. I didn't think the coursework was rigorous. I imagined they passed everyone but I am glad to see that the Grand Canyon had high standards at least.

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

No, actually they do not pass everyone. I have known people that have failed. So again, do your homework and drop "THE".

THE Grand Canyon is a Nat'l park that is one very large canyon, hence GRAND canyon.

Grand Canyon University is a brick and mortar Christian University in Phoenix. Beautiful campus with a very strong nursing program with grads that are highly sought after. ;)

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Specializes in Cath Lab, Case Management.

You must have gotten a hold of some real doozies for recruiting. I am attending GCU and I can tell you that never once did they hound me to sign up...to be honest I squeal inside when my recruiter calls on occasion to see how I am doing, he is the best! With initial recruitment I was offered a round trip airline ticket with hotel to come and visit the campus...not many universities offer that to their students.

I think your question is a bit bizarre, to me it is like asking why would anyone voluntarily work for a company that is for profit.

I am super surprised that having an ADN first, you knowingly are denigrating any type of education. When I tell all my b/m trained co-workers (one being an instructor at a local b/m university) about what the expectations are with each class at GCU they are saying how easy they had it when they got their b/m degrees, or as the teacher says, really?

Another thing is that I will graduate debt free, there is a significant cost difference. Not only that, but, ANA supports GCU and the nurses that attend there, by offering a discount on our tuition.

I am so happy with GCU, I cannot recommend them higher...I'm guessing you missed out not attending GCU :yes:

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My sister attends GCU and was never hassled or hounded. She also has to work very hard for her grades....there's definitely no "passing everyone" there.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Float Pool Nursing.
You must have gotten a hold of some real doozies for recruiting. I am attending GCU and I can tell you that never once did they hound me to sign up...to be honest I squeal inside when my recruiter calls on occasion to see how I am doing, he is the best! With initial recruitment I was offered a round trip airline ticket with hotel to come and visit the campus...not many universities offer that to their students.

I think your question is a bit bizarre, to me it is like asking why would anyone voluntarily work for a company that is for profit.

I am super surprised that having an ADN first, you knowingly are denigrating any type of education. When I tell all my b/m trained co-workers (one being an instructor at a local b/m university) about what the expectations are with each class at GCU they are saying how easy they had it when they got their b/m degrees, or as the teacher says, really?

Another thing is that I will graduate debt free, there is a significant cost difference. Not only that, but, ANA supports GCU and the nurses that attend there, by offering a discount on our tuition.

I am so happy with GCU, I cannot recommend them higher...I'm guessing you missed out not attending GCU :yes:

I am happy that you liked GCU. I never attended but I don't feel that I missed out on going to school in the Grand Canyon. I may have been as happy with that, as PSU, if I had been educated about its rigor. I am just so leery of for profit educational institutions but as you said, most companies are for profit anyway so why should we be leery of a school that is such?

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

Ok, just for the record, the school is NOT IN THE CANYON! Do you think the students ride donkeys to get to the bottom to attend school? Seriously girl, take a geography class!:roflmao:

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Ok, just for the record, the school is NOT IN THE CANYON! Do you think the students ride donkeys to get to the bottom to attend school? Seriously girl, take a geography class!:roflmao:

Wouldn't that be cool though? :)

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.
I am happy that you liked GCU. I never attended but I don't feel that I missed out on going to school in the Grand Canyon. I may have been as happy with that, as PSU, if I had been educated about its rigor. I am just so leery of for profit educational institutions but as you said, most companies are for profit anyway so why should we be leery of a school that is such?

As a mom with kids that attended/attend state universities, they are shocked at the rigor of GCU. The supposed state and therefore non profit have crappy dorms that look like prisons (we are talking three different colleges, btw) and one of the colleges has a football coach that makes more money than the governor.

One school of kid #2, is tearing down some of the dorms because they do not match the other brick buildings. This raised tuition 10% to offset the building costs. Yeah, let's look uniform and pretty at the cost of the students. Smart move...

Lastly, one kid had their school apartment catch fire, through not fault of their own. He was ok, but he was only able to save his laptop. The rest of his belongings were smoke damaged beyond saving.

The college did nothing to help with housing or replacing his belongings. My son had to live out of his car for 6 weeks until spring housing opened up. Even then he was squatting illegally. The university did not reimburse housing or do anything to help him. But since it's a brick and mortar school, we know it must be quality... cough...cough...

Winterwhite:

I had questions about GCU that I wanted answered prior to starting. Since I'm not in AZ, I wasn't going to spend the money for a campus tour, lol. Instead, I emailed the head of education for my organization. He talked to the dean of education at GCU, who then called me, while I was at work. She answered my questions and encouraged me to come down for a tour. She didn't offer to pay for it though! LOL.

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

Hmm, donkey hair on purple uniform tops. Ya think that would fly with the instructors? :laugh:

I do like horses and donkeys though ;)

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

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The first one is the College of Nursing, and the second is THE GRAND CANYON.

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